Entwined Fates
by brobat
Summary: Peach wants a taste of adventure, while Bowser just wants security in his kingdom. Can they team up and save both kingdoms with no help from the Luigi Bros.? Alternate Universe, Bowser x Peach
1. Mushroom Morning

**Entwined Fates**

Peach wants a taste of adventure, while Bowser just wants security in his kingdom. Can they team up and save both kingdoms with no help from the Luigi Bros.? Alternate Universe, Bowser x Peach

AN: I've had this particular story among others in my head for a while, so I figured it would be a good starting point to write for my favorite pairing. It's an alternate universe, however it doesn't stray too far from the classic Mario formula. Partially based off Paper Mario and its style of storytelling. There will be original characters later on, but again they won't be out of place. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Sun streamed into the Royal Chambers of Princess Peach. At the early time of 8 AM, most of her kingdom was still sleeping, however Peach was wide awake. She stared at her ceiling for what seemed like eternity. She could already hear her servants pattering down the hall, about to knock on her door. The pattering sounded more frantic than usual, but Peach didn't care. She just wanted to sink under the covers before facing her royal duties. Knocking shook her room suddenly.

"Princess?" a familiar voice called from behind her door. Toadsworth was always on time as a royal alarm clock and always waking her up or just reminded her of the day ahead. "Princess? Are you awake in there, or should I come in, hmm?" Peach sat up in her bed.

"Yes, I'm awake. More or less," she said, the last part muttered under her breath. Toadsworth always meant well, although it smothered her a tad bit, especially when it came to her own freedom. "You can come in Toadsworth. What's on the schedule today?"

"Well, ahem. We have a lot of bills to be signs, treaties to be…glanced over from certain kingdoms. Big day, wotwot?" With that, the elderly toad entered and left, leaving Peach sitting up in her bed sighing. It _was_ going to be busy. Peach bit her lip and got out of bed, ready to start the day.

Peach combing her hair was a usual habit, however strange rumblings underneath her feet always stopped her in the midst. The rumblings even knocked over a toothbrush and that was just the beginning of it. Throughout her routine, the tremors continued, which set Peach in a worried mood. The Toads who continued pacing around the castle didn't even seem to notice it. When Peach was finally ready, she stepped out into the main foyer of her castle. Toadsworth approached her in a tizzy. 'Finally, someone is feeling it! Maybe we have new furniture being moved in or..' Peach's thought was cut off.

"Princess we have dreadful news!"

"Is it about the tremors? Because I've been wonder-" Again, Peach was cut off.

"Princess Daisy has been kidnapped! By that dastardly Tatanga, of course. Luigi and Mario have been dispatched to rescue her, so our castle is on the highest-" Toadsworth took a moment to pause and reach up as high as his arms could reach. "-alert as so our Princess, you of course, is safe and is under no threat of the same fate."

"But what about the tremors?" Peach wrung her hands. Daisy being kidnapped was almost a regular occurrence, one that Peach was lucky to never experience, but the tremors were new. Earthquakes rarely occur in the Mushroom Kingdom. Repeating earthquakes throughout the day especially didn't happen.

"I haven't felt anything extraordinary, a couple of rumblings here or there. I assumed some rogue servants are up to mischief, eh?" He gripped his cane and walked off, leaving Peach in a state of confusion.

Another usual routine was signing bills and treaties. While the Mushroom Kingdom did have royalty, the kingdom still had democracy, and she was there to sign bills and act as a figurehead. She was the voice her people needed. Signing bills, on the other hand, seemed more like a courtesy rather than a duty. Most of the bills were common sense things that have already passed, they just needed her royal blessing. Most of the treaties passed, except for Darkland treaties. Peach drummed the pen on her office table. She had many meetings with the Darkland Kingdom, ruled by King Bowser, however all meetings went sour on both ends. It wasn't the faults of the respecting royals either. She vaguely remembered one meeting where Bowser sat across from her quietly, looking forlorn and generally displeased. She also felt the same, however she had to look composed as Toadsworth shouted at the other side of the table. She stared at Bowser for a long time, trying to ignore the feud between the two kingdoms. He never spoke up, never looked at any of his followers or the kingdom against his. He was staring hard at the table below him, scratching a claw into it. He never looked up at her either. She always wondered if they had met under different circumstances, with kingdoms who didn't have a very uneasy truce and didn't throw out treaties, if they would get along. Even be friends? 'He seems nice enough. I mean, he hates those meetings as much as I do, he can't be that bad,' she thought, now biting her pen and neglecting her papers. With that, another tremor was felt through the castle, knocking over a pile of bills and one painting. Toadsworth, with almost insane precision and timeliness, came rushing into the office.

"Is everything alright in here? I heard a noise, I just didn't want Tatanga or some other villain scooping you up."

"Toadsworth!" She sat up quickly and with a touch of anger. "Haven't you been feeling the weird rumblings? Aren't we, as a kingdom, going to do something? We can't just let these, these quakes just keep happening to our citizens? Right?"

"Now Peach, we can't do anything about it. We will just have to wait until Luigi is done bashing that Tatanga and rescuing Daisy. Then you can call him and see if he can investigate. We can even call Mario in the meantime and see if we can at least get him over. As long as you're _safe_, Princess."

"Right," she sighed, slumping back down in her chair. 'No one is taking this seriously. And we can't possibly wait for Luigi or his brother to fix everything.'

"Well Peach, I'll let you get back to your duties, hmm? No time like the present!" Toadsworth said as he left. "Just let Luigi take care of this earthquake business, ok Princess?"

"Sure. I'll let Luigi take care of this, after I find out what exactly is going on," she whispered to herself as she too left the office.

Peach entered the backyard of her castle with much determination. She didn't know how exactly to fix things, but she decided she was going to hit two Paratroopas with one shell. Save her kingdom_ and_ patch things up with the Koopa Kingdom. She was tired of never seeing treaties and she was tired of having a hero clean up messes in her own kingdom. She walked briskly over to the collection of pipes to various places. The Darklands pipe was, unsurprisingly, dusty after a year of boycotting meeting. There was also signage on the pipe saying 'Out of Order'. She twitched her nose at it. 'Are we really on that bad of terms with them?' She ran a finger on the tip of the pipe, wiping away the dust. Peach took an uneasy step on the top of it.

"Well," Peach said, taking in a deep breath, "adventure awaits."

AN: Hooray, first chapter complete! I hope it wasn't too long, or short, or anything. And yeah, no fluffy cute Powser yet. Next chapter, I swear! Maybe. Hopefully. Also, I hope how you saw the AU differences! Yes, everything is pretty much opposite land, with Daisy being kidnapped by the villain Tatanga from Super Mario Land, which she debuted in. That's all I really have to say, I guess. If you like it (or don't) review it so I can improve my story! It makes for a better story, and a better me. :3 Well, bye, see you guys next chapter!


	2. Heated Meeting

Bowser woke up to rumbling. He groaned at what he assumed was the over-active volcano system near his castle shook his room. Despite the fact he could sleep through almost anything, he didn't sleep through the strange shaking. Bowser twitched his nose. His minions knew to let him sleep in, and they even planned out any activities to accommodate for that fact. If only they could accommodate for the fact of large, looming volcanoes right outside his window.

"Kamek!" Bowser roared while throwing most of his blankets to the ground, and stomping out of bed. "Didn't I tell you guys to at least _watch _the stupid lava buckets?!" Pitter-pattering of feet echoed down the hall to his door.

"Is something the matter Sire?" Through the walls, Bowser could already tell it was indeed Kamek and not a clueless newbie. This usually means, at least in Bowser's opinion, that whatever problem was, it would be solved in a timely manner.

"What-," Bowser opened the door to face Kamek, snorting out steam, "-the hell is up with the volcanos?! I thought you guys had a crack team of whoever to make sure it doesn't kill everything!"

"We do Sire. It's not the volcanoes, I'm afraid." Kamek pushed up his glasses. "We're still investigating, however the Darklands system of volcanoes is operating as usual." Bowser sighed, and a low growl escaped out of his clenched teeth.

"Fine, but keep an eye on it. I'm not dealing with any weird 'castle-crashing-down' crap today, ok?" The Magikoopa nodded, and left his room with a 'yes Sire.' Bowser stretched in his doorway, less than eager to start his (already) early day.

Peach stood outside a towering and rather imposing castle. She knew who it belonged to. She knew that as a royal she was allowed to ask for an audience with the Koopa King. And yet, she was standing outside shuddering in nervousness. She reached up to the door knocker, the giant, menacing door knocker which stared at her right in the face and _oh god she can't do this she just really can't do this._ Peach jerked away from the door and bit her lip. 'I've never even been to any other kingdoms. Sarasaland once or twice but…' Her thoughts trailed off with a tremor so strong it made her knees shake. "It's worse here," she said out loud. She found her resolved after the tremor, squeezing her eyes shut as she knocked swiftly and loudly. She stood there waiting, shuffling her feet slightly as she became more and more nervous. Maybe they didn't hear her? Peach reached up again to knock before the door opened quickly.

"P-Princess Peach? I m-m-m-mean, your Highness?" A terrified Koopa in armor stared up at her.

"Are you here for Bowse-I mean! King Bowser?" The Koopa cleared his throat. "Are you here to see his almighty Grumpiness, the one the only, King Bowser of the Koopa Kingdom, miss?" Peach stood in awe as this trembling Koopa attempted formality.

"Ah-um, yes! I am, actually. Is it possible to um-oh shoot." Peach stuttered, watching the Koopa relaxing before her as he realized she was just as nervous as him. "I'm so sorry. I'm a bit rattled from the warp pipe. Can you take me to where I can talk with Lord Bowser?"

"Certainly, Princess! I can take you right to his throne room," he said with a grin.

Weaving around the castle with a talkative Koopa was more fun than Peach imagined. He told her all about the castle's architecture and how long Bowser had been in power. He told her the ghost stories passed down through the castle's occupants. He even told her Bowser's usual sleep schedule, which surprised her as she could never sleep in _that _late.

"And here," the Koopa said, stopping, "is King Bowser's throne room. He doesn't bite, I promise. He's pretty cool once he gets to know you. Y'know, other than the whole yells a lot thing." The Koopa grinned at her again.

"Thank you so much! I didn't quite get your name, though."

"T.J.!" He cleared his throat again, trying to lower his excited voice. "T.J. Koopa. Been working here for 4 years, miss. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go guard the door again."

"Thanks T.J!" Peach watched as T.J. scurried away, and she turned to face the throne room. She breathed in and stepped into view of the Koopa King. King Bowser. The scary, ominous creature that was-

Looking petrified at her?

"Hello? King Bowser?" A gruff voice that was almost muted greeted her.

"Hey. Princess Peach, right?" Bowser looked away. "No one told me you were showin' up." Peach was surprised at how.. not formal he was. He had a lean, presumably from his massive shell hunkered on his back. He had a furrowed expression, although it wasn't an angry one. She assumed he would be more imposing and large, and while he was much taller than she, he didn't appear all that threatening in front of her.

"Um, I know our kingdoms haven't been on the best of terms," Peach began, wringing her gloved hands.

"Tsh, it ain't _your _fault. Every meeting I saw you in, you couldn't say a thing." He lowered his eyes at her. "Every time you tried to speak, that one Toad would pipe up. Toddsworthington?"

"Toadsworth, and yes, he can be a bit.. Overbearing at times."

"Yeah. That guy." Bowser sighed and glanced over at Peach. "So, why're you here? I mean, don't you have a kingdom to run? Or are you playing hooky?" Peach giggled.

"That's why I'm here, King Bowser. It's rather hard to run a kingdom when the earth is quaking below it. And also when no one will acknowledge that it's happening." This time Bowser laughed, and it was a low laugh that was surprisingly not-that-scary and made her smile.

"You too, huh? What did your people say about it?"

"Call the Luigi Brothers."

"Mine are 'investigating', whatever that means. If it ain't hurting my kingdom though, I couldn't care less. But if stuff is happening in your lands then we might have a problem. You might _have_ to call the Super Bros."

"That," Peach stepped forward, gathering her courage, "is why I came here. I think that we should investigate together as allies. As two kingdoms willing to work together."

"Does whatshisfaceknow about this?" Bowser said dryly.

"They don't even know I left."

AN: WOO! Another chapter done! I hate writing beginnings, hence why this took forever and a day. Anyways, soon we will be getting to the action. Also interesting side note, those door knocker things are straight up called door knockers. Who knew?


End file.
